1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a structure of a front corner portion in which a front pillar is provided between a windshield glass side portion and a side door front portion in a vehicle such as a truck, a passenger car, a bus and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the prior art, there has been disclosed a front structure of a vehicle in which a front corner member extending along a side portion of a windshield glass and a front portion of a side glass is provided between the side portion of the windshield glass and the front portion of the side glass and the width of the front corner member is 40 to 58 mm when viewed by a driver seated in a driver's seat of the vehicle (for example, refer to patent Document 1). In this front structure of a vehicle, the front corner member comprises by a front pillar, a door frame, a glass frame and a glass run and the front pillar is formed in a cylindrical shape by bonding both side portions of a pillar inner panel and both side portions of a pillar outer panel. The pillar inner panel has a pillar inner body provided along the visual line direction of a driver seated in a driver's seat of a truck, a first front flange formed integrally with the pillar inner body at the front portion of the pillar inner body, and a first rear flange formed integrally with the pillar inner body at the rear portion of the pillar inner body. Also, the pillar outer panel has a pillar outer body provided substantially opposite to the front face of the door frame, a second front flange formed integrally with the pillar outer body at the front portion of the pillar outer body, and a second rear flange formed integrally with the pillar outer body at the rear portion of the pillar outer body. A front overlap portion is formed by bonding the pillar outer surface of the first front flange and the pillar inner surface of the second front flange. Also, an adhesive is filled in a gap between the front overlap portion and the inner surface of the windshield glass, and the side portion of the windshield glass is mounted to the front pillar by this adhesive. Moreover, a molding is fitted to the outer periphery portion of the glass in order to improve appearance of the outer periphery portion of the windshield glass.
In the front structure of a vehicle constructed as above, the width of the front corner member is 40 to 58 mm when viewed from a driver seated in a driver's seat of the vehicle. Therefore, when the driver of the vehicle focuses his both eyes to a target outside diagonally right in front of the vehicle in order to turn right at an intersection, for example, the relatively narrow front corner member close to him looks blurred due to parallax, and the target beyond the front corner member is not obstructed by the front corner member and thereby the driver can see a continuous visual field from the front of the vehicle to the right side. As a result, the driver of the vehicle does not have to move his upper body right or left in order to visually check the target beyond the front corner member but the driver can surely check the target outside the vehicle visually only by looking straight in the direction of the front corner member by moving only his head.
Patent Document 1
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-96270 (claim 1, paragraphs [0007], [0008], [0011] to [0013])
In the front structure of a vehicle shown in the above prior-art Patent Document 1, an upper molding is fitted to an upper part of the windshield glass, a side molding is fitted to a side part of the windshield glass, and a weather strip to block dusts, rainwater and the like from entering a gap between the front pillar and the door frame is attached at a rear overlap portion. Since this weather strip is provided deep in the gap between the front pillar and the door frame, that is, on the side closer to a cabin, between the front pillar and the door frame, dusts, rain water and the like easily intrudes into a gap between the front pillar and the door frame through the gap between the side molding and the door frame, by which exposed surfaces of the front pillar and the door frame can easily get dusty.